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Republican leaders sound the alarm on what could be the party's most pressing national challenge. In this photo, Julio Regaldo takes part in a large-scale naturalization ceremony to become a U.S. citizen.
AP Photo

“You had some very high-profile Republicans that were almost anti-Hispanic, not anti-illegal-immigration,” said Frank Guerra, a Republican media consultant in Texas who worked for the campaigns of George W. Bush. “Republicans need to be much more welcoming, less incendiary and much more thoughtful.”

Beyond that, there’s some debate in Hispanic political circles about whether Hispanics can be won over again on an appeal to more conservative cultural and economic values — part of the Bush campaigns’ successful push — or whether the GOP needs a new message for that group, as well.

“The clear way to come back is the way we always have: We reach out, and we are there in the community,” said Lionel Sosa, a veteran Republican ad man. “We take the vote seriously. We make it a top priority. We know that our Republican, conservative values are in line with the Latino conservative values and that we are all about opportunity, about family and about making sure that the American free enterprise system opens up to take in all the Latino talent.”

Others are demanding a change.

“We can’t keep running ads of white-haired guys eating a taco next to a piñata,” said Florida fundraiser Navarro. “We need ads that have substance.”

Navarro pointed to immigration as a central issue on which Republicans must change their tone and could steal a step from Obama, who has not clearly signaled whether he’ll fulfill a campaign promise to press for immigration reform in his first year.

“It’s symbolic: Do you like us, or do you not?” Navarro said. “It presents a remarkable opportunity for Republicans to call Obama’s bluff and say, ‘OK, what do you have to offer on immigration?’”

Alex Castellanos, who was a consultant to Bush and to Mitt Romney, pointed to another potential wedge.

“We have a hell of an issue on equal opportunity in education and school choice with Hispanic voters, with black voters, with suburban voters, with soccer moms,” he said. “There are two beautiful kids in Washington whose parents chose the best school for them. Michelle and Barack Obama did the right thing — shouldn’t you have equal opportunity to choose the best school for your kids, too?”

The central source of alarm among Hispanic Republicans, however, is the lack of any coherent appeal to Latinos as the midterm, then presidential, elections approach.

“Things have got to be starting now; those conversations have got to be taking place right now,” Guerra said. “They can’t just swoop in and say a few magic words and put a few ads on the air.”

“This is a very dangerous period for the Republican Party because this population is growing so fast, it’s on such a trajectory,” he said. “So if they lose the next cycle, I don’t know how they turn it around in the cycle after that.”

Readers' Comments (1113)

I'm not sure why Republicans fear Latinos. Latinos are inherently CONSERVATIVE. They are hard workers as well. They are mostly Catholic and don't believe in abortion. I'm not sure but I would guess they believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. So, I'm puzzled as to why they are voting Democrat.

Let's face it identifying oneself as a Republican has become synonymous with telling someone you have gonorrhea. Obama and the Democrats won the youth vote an astonishing 2 to 1. Studies indicate that the party an individual cast their first vote for is the party they overwhelmingly stay with for life. The GOP, through no fault of their own (and the brown-nosing of religious extremists), have essentially lost an entire generation. We don't even need to get into the minority vote such as hispanics, Asians, etc. Moreover, as the nation becomes more diverse, the GOP becomes more old and white. They (the GOP) are still under the assumption that you can win elections with old white people. News to GOP! Your demographic is dying off. As old conservatives die off (and they are) they are being systematically replaced with energetic young liberals and people of color. Goposaurus is a term we should get used to.

Let's face it identifying oneself as a Republican has become synonymous with telling someone you have gonorrhea. Obama and the Democrats won the youth vote an astonishing 2 to 1. Studies indicate that the party an individual cast their first vote for is the party they overwhelmingly stay with for life. The GOP, through no fault of their own (and the brown-nosing of religious extremists), have essentially lost an entire generation. We don't even need to get into the minority vote such as hispanics, Asians, etc. Moreover, as the nation becomes more diverse, the GOP becomes more old and white. They (the GOP) are still under the assumption that you can win elections with old white people. News to GOP! Your demographic is dying off. As old conservatives die off (and they are) they are being systematically replaced with energetic young liberals and people of color. Goposaurus is a term we should get used to.

I'm not sure why Republicans fear Latinos. Latinos are inherently CONSERVATIVE. They are hard workers as well. They are mostly Catholic and don't believe in abortion. I'm not sure but I would guess they believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. So, I'm puzzled as to why they are voting Democrat.

You're puzzled as to why they are voting Democratic? This is exactly why you are losing their vote. Real world issues such as putting food on the table and keeping a roof over your head (which the Democrats understand) trump your straw-man issues like same sex marriage, etc. People have wised up and are no longer duped by the GOP into voting against their own economic interests. So, please, keep on being puzzled. We wil keep on winning elections.

Perhaps Latinos do not wish to be thought of as simply a space in which to be filled, and rather as individual thinkers and believers? Is that so far fetched to understand? The world is changing; everyone, families, workers, churches, it's changing as it should because life changes.

I'm not saying Latinos are suddenly one party or the other; I'm saying they are individuals with individual ideas and goals and hopes and dreams. They are Americans, and as such, have a diverse belief and value system. And as Americans, individuals do not "belong" to any party, or group, or religion.

To me this is a no brainer. The GOP needs the votes of a group of people that they have branded as lazy illegal welfare sponges. I don't think the Latino community is going to support the GOP anytime soon.

A tough choice for the Repulicans. Alienate the Lou Dobbs Hispanic hating core of the Republican party and lose elections, or continue to look the other way and imply approval while the core froths at their mouths and spews hatred of all things Hispanic (and in many cases any and all brown skinned people). Either way they still lose elections.

Funny how that "southern strategy" led to isolation as the rule only by the "white guys" party - huh? The fact that white guys are rapidly becoming the minority in the USA scares these folks to the core!

If republicans vote against President Obamas and Congress immigration reform bill they can kiss their ass goodbye at least for another 40 years. Also republicans need to drop their XENOPHOBIC view of hispanics and stop passing laws that encourage racial profiling and demonize this people, this country is better than that and the republican party should step up to the plate or get rolled over. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in America and when it comes to the GOP they HATE what they see. President Obama will nominate Sonia Sotomayor as the first hispanic justice for the SCOTUS. This will solidify the Hispanic vote for the next election. Then he will watch how republicans cut their own throats and bleed to death by demonizing her, possibly even opposing her nomination, angering Hispanics even more and making it impossible for them to gain any kind of traction, one word, brilliant. It's amazing to me that the media hasn't figured this out, they keep putting out names out there, President Obama probably made this decision months ago. President Obama loves history, specially making history. HEY REPUBLICANS GET USED TO THIS FACE YES, THAT ONE

If republicans vote against President Obamas and Congress immigration reform bill they can kiss their ass goodbye at least for another 40 years. Also republicans need to drop their XENOPHOBIC view of hispanics and stop passing laws that encourage racial profiling and demonize this people, this country is better than that and the republican party should step up to the plate or get rolled over. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in America and when it comes to the GOP they HATE what they see. President Obama will nominate Sonia Sotomayor as the first hispanic justice for the SCOTUS. This will solidify the Hispanic vote for the next election. Then he will watch how republicans cut their own throats and bleed to death by demonizing her, possibly even opposing her nomination, angering Hispanics even more and making it impossible for them to gain any kind of traction, one word, brilliant. It's amazing to me that the media hasn't figured this out, they keep putting out names out there, President Obama probably made this decision months ago. President Obama loves history, specially making history. HEY REPUBLICANS GET USED TO THIS FACE YES, THAT ONE

What are they(GOP) afraid of? Latinos? naaaah, i mean after all they "respect" them enough to have their party Boss Limeballs, insult them and denigrate them as nothing but a bunch of breeding groups and people out to take every white man's job. Right? yes of course,! You wonder why they are not voting along Repukeblicans line, huh? wonder no further, continue to disparage them, use immigration as a hate tool to force families to be torn apart and shatter lives, continue to insinuate that all the problems we have in this country are caused by Illegals, from Hannity and Hate, Rush Limeballs, Lou Dick(Doubb), Ann Coulter nad the club for growth, these group have whipped up a frenzy of hate and bigotry towards latinos, if Laws were reallly enforced they will be dragged before the courts for inciting hate and murder.

Reminiscent of palin and her crowd of "Kill him(Obama)", yeah he is an arab terrorist" Fkking ni*****" all demeaning names you called him.

Now you think, just by shuffling a few chair and having a comedian like Steele as you face of the party(well Boss Limeballs is the brains), do you think people will buy your product? No, hell no.

Sometimes i wonder what the GOp is thinking? i mean as a black man, and most minorities in general in this country, we have more in common with your supposedly espoused ideals : Gay marriage, abortion, family values, etc. Yet what you don't get is the Democrats for all you name you wanna cal them, they approach issues not in plain black and white, either for or against.

We are not perfect, only God is perfect, so as we live amongst men, we need to find a common ground and not just demonize and have an intractibale stance.

The GOP is against universal health care, higher wages for lower skilled jobs, GOP is for mass deportation, ID cards, etc. The Latino voters are interested in seeing these programs like universal health care implemented. The GOP is for suppressing the Latinos.

Gee...could it possibly be that McCain was with Bush on the whole Amnesty thing to begin with so what was the difference in voting for him and Obama on that one? I don't give a crap what Bonilla has to say. Our party should be about principles, not personalities or getting enough of a certain kind of people to vote for us. When you CONSISTENTLY have principles (a lot of Republicans do not), consistently voice those principles and do not vote in a hypocritical way, you show a clear choice in parties. Right now, the Dems are evil and the Repubs are cowards. The Repubs won't win unless they have representatives who are not cowards.

You're puzzled as to why they are voting Democratic? This is exactly why you are losing their vote. Real world issues such as putting food on the table and keeping a roof over your head (which the Democrats understand) trump your straw-man issues like same sex marriage, etc. People have wised up and are no longer duped by the GOP into voting against their own economic interests. So, please, keep on being puzzled. We wil keep on winning elections.

This article is bogus, and Praetorian is off-base here.

We're losing the illegal hispanic vote. The people that played by the rules to aquire US citizenship are not leaving the republican party.

Blacks are wiseing-up to how they've been played, since Johnson. I'll bet it won't take the hispanics too long to figure their(Lib Dems) socio-economic scamming also.

Right now, the Dems are evil and the Repubs are cowards. The Repubs won't win unless they have representatives who are not cowards.

No, right now the Dems have built a grass roots movement because they LISTENED TO WE THE PEOPLE. You cannot lead if you don't win elections silly. The GOP doesn't even know what it stands for anymore. Is it the party of corporate greed or small business? They say they are for small business yet the GOP has yet to uphold even the most basic anti trust laws. They say they are small business, yet shy away from health care reform. They say they are pro life, yet shy away from comprehensive sex education and fundiing for programs proven to reduce unwanted pregnancy. They say they are pro middle class yet are hostile to any organized labor.

The GOP aren't cowards. They just don't even know who they are anymore. The GOP= No We Can't!

I think Democrats stole a few hispanic votes because they went into their areas and called Republicans names in spanish and McCain couldn't figure out a response and didn't know any spanish cuss words. All Republicans have to do is lasso a hispanic man in his 40's or 50's who is well educated, raised in the midwest and has movie star good looks and the pendulum swings back.